Potato-harvester.



Y 1.2. BRENNAN..

POTATO HARVESTER. n rmorrlox nun 23B. s, 100s.

` Patented oc1 ;.25,110.

WITNEssEs.-

' .sents a top view o erative mechanisms of the harvester pro-v Athe potatoes and the side bars 15, by which UNITED4 sTATEs w,PATENT oEEicE.

JAMES P. BRENNAN, OF COLUMBUS, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY J. WEIDEMANN, OF COLUMBUS, WISCONSIN.

POTATO-HARVESTER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application led February 6, 1909. Serial No. 478,565.

To all ,whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that LJAMEs P. BRENNAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbus, county of Columbia, .and State, of Wisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in PotatofHarvesters, of which the followin is a specication.

My invention re ates to improvements in drop therefrom, as'the lingers pass bea certain potato harvester for which Letters and the liability of such Patent of the United States N o. 829384 were refuse .matter being retained by such fingers issued to me Au st 28, .1906 and it perand carried forwardly over the reel as heretains more specia ly to the construction of tolfore by the construction shown in said and means for votally supporting the patent is avoided. radial lingers of t e so called reel whereby It will be understood that a plurality of said fingers are rigidly held in piace when radial 1in ers 7 are connected with a single assing throu h the lower arc o the circle head bloc 16 and each-of said head blocks escribed by t e reel but are adapted to be 1 6 is provided with an operating arm- 17. released from their radial -position and be inclined downwardly and rearwardly as they are carried upwardly by such reel.

The construction of my invention is ex lained by reference to the accompanying f rawings in whichy Figure 1 represents a side view of the op- When, however, they have passed the screen 14, they are released from their rigidly locked position and caused to incline downweeds, grass and -se material form distances apart the annular rim 18 bythe It will be understood that't fingers 7` is such that as they descend upon the front side of the` reel they drop forward from the vertical position shown at A to the horizontal position'hshown' at in Fig; 1, when they are retained in such position radially'to the shaft 13, b supporting bolt l21, andy slidablef bolt4 22, which bolt 22 has Aa lon itudinal movement erence gures in both views. ,forwardly and backwa'r ly in the slot 23 of In my resent invention, thetraction the arm 17, whereby as the lingers 7.are wheels 1, wlieel supporting axle 2, axle s brought to-said radial position, `their further porting frame 3, excavating blade 4, bla e movement is arrested by contact of said bolt supporting beam 5, reel 6, reel supporting 22 with one side of the slot 23. Thusit will arms 8, frame supporting wheels v9, means be obvious that asthe fingers 7 are brou ht for communicating motion from the traction in contact with `the wheels 1 to the reel 6, consistin of the lsubstances 'de osited sprocket wheel 10, sprocket ain 11, they are rigidi) sprocket wheel 12, reelsupportin shaft 1 3, 20 andy connectiig'parts Vwhile upon which the reelA 6 is mounte also the .tween the bars .o said screen. potato screen 14, between the bars of which ever, said fingers have the earth is screened out and separated from around ft e reel, upon ivotal bolts 19.

vided with' my im rovements. Fig. l2 reprea series of the radial n-l gers and their supporting mechanisms.

. Like arts are identified by the same reflupon the screen 14,

assin hen, ow.,-

whereby said bolt 22 is forced downwardl .and out of the recess -24 into which it 1s forced. by contactof the fingers' with the vines upon' the screens and is caused to slide the otatoes are retained on the screenbars as t ey are' being elevated from said screen by said. fingers, are all constructed and arranged substantially as lshown and described wardly as shown, whereby the iplotatoj vines,

Said arms 17 are pivotally supplorted at uni Patented oet. 25, icio.

e weight of the the link 20, link4 potato vines and'ot er y held in place by .said liils passed beyond the.; screen, said link 2() is brought in sliding contact with the upwardly curved arm 25,V

ioo

in my said patent. downwardly in said slot 23 to the osition y present invention consists more speshown at C in F ig.' 1, whereby the ngers cially in theconstructionofthe radial are releaselirom the action of said link 2O gers 7 and the ineans of pivotall connectand permitted to drop when thel otato vines ing them with the reel as state whereby and other refuse matter, whic has; been when passing between the bars of the screen caught up thereby are free to fall 'tojthe 14 on the lower side of the reel, theyare -ground,`as stated.` Thus it. will be underrigidly lockedeirihthe radial positi n shown.v stoodrA that each revolution: of

'lio

`l A reel, as used in connection with a potato' the series of fingers 7 are locked intheir ra'- dial osition while passing between the bars of t e screen and that when they have passed the screen they are automatically reeased from theirlocked position and permitted to incline downwardl as stated.

While I have shown and, reel,'the series of fingers and finger supporting heads the locking and releasingl mechanism and other cooperating parts of the harvester, I'do not wish to confine or limit myself to 'the use of the same in connection with a potato harvester only, as it may be used for other similar purposes.

'To'prevent lumps of 'dirt and the like from closing the spaces between the fingers of the screen 14 and thereby obstructing the movement ofthe radial lingers T as they enter the spaces between the 'fingers of the screen 14, I have provided a plurality of two-armed tilting levers 30 which are pivotally supported from the side bai-SI15 centrally between the fingers of the screen 14 upon the pivotal shaft 3], the rear arm 32 being curved downwardly and upwardly termlnating at its rear end slightly above saidside bars, while the front end is preferably made triangular in shape termmating .downwardly and centrally beneath the bars of the screen 14, as shown in 1, whereby as the radial fingers 7 of. the reel are brought in contact with such obstructions they will be broken and reduced in size, when said arm 32 will-tip downwardly and lpermit i said obstructions to escape between the fingers. The short arm 33 of said lever is adapted to be thrown upwardly between the .fingers of `the screen as the rear end is thrown downwardly, whereby such substances as might otherwise accumulate in the front end of the screen will be thrown rearwardly and past the pivotally supporting rod 31, when they are carried forward by the next succeeding radial fingers 7 of the reel. The two-armed lever 30 is yieldingly retained in its normal position shown by the spring 34, which 'spring is connected at o ne end with the side bar 15 and at its opposlte described the crasse I end with said rod 31 through'thc arm 5.55, which arm 35 is rigidly connected with said pivotal rod 31. 'Thus it will be obvious that when any of the radial fingers 7 contact with anything supported upon the fingers 14, all the arms 82 of the series will be si- I multaneously thrown down, While all the rear arms 33 will be thrown upwardly, and l that as soon as the fingers 7 have passed said i arm 32, said two-armed levers lwill be brought bach to their normal position shown I by the' re-co1l of the spring 34. L Having thus described my invention what i I claimI as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,

1. In a potato harvester of he class d eing said series of lingers and permitting them to incline downwardly after they have passed said screen. I

2. In a potato harvester of the class described, the combination of a revol'uble rcel, a pluralit of finger supporting heads, a seines of fingers and an operating arm rigidly connected with each of said heads, means for pivotally supporting said arms from said revoluble reel, la link ,slidably connected at one end with each of said arms and pivotally connected at its `opposite end with said reel, the operating arm of said series of fingers being adapted to drop into locking engagement with said links as said fingers pass between Athe 'screen bars of the harvester-and means for automatically disengaging said locking mechanism and re-` leasing. said fingers from their locked position, when they have passed said screen. y

In testimony: whereof Iaffix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.-

JAMES l). BRENNAN.

vester and means for automatically releas- Witnesses:

I. .D. BREMER, O. R. ERWIN, 

